Day of the Master Chief
by Wheelspin
Summary: It's 2556, and the Master Chief is about to get a nasty surprise. Meanwhile, 543 years in the past, UNIT are about to get backup, and the Zygons are going to wish wormholes in the fabric of space-time didn't exist.


Hi there, Wheelspin here. I own nothing. If I did, Cortana wouldn't have died.

_2556 C.E. Unknown space. Remains of FFG-201, UNSC Charon Class Frigate _Forward Unto Dawn_, aft cryo bay._

'Chief? Can you hear me?'

_A light flares at the pedestal in the centre of the room. Translucent blue particles form, and morph together into a human-female-esque image, in the foetal position, with data streams shifting and contorting up and down her body._

'When I was born seven years ago, I already possessed the entire sum of human knowledge.'

_She looks into the only occupied tank in the room._

'It took me almost two hours to process and understand all that information. But I can't be sure which memories are mine or even what's true, what's real. I've discovered a great deal more information since then. For an A.I., I've lived a very long time. But now, after seven human years, I have finally come to understand your role, your place in the universe and how you came to be here. The eons of human evolution, invention, aspiration...and war. Always war. The oldest, most enduring of human practices.'

_The tank flickers, and a planet with metallic landmasses appears beside her._

'A hundred thousand years ago, a great civilization existed in this universe. Like all civilizations, they faced a sudden and dire turn of events. A threat to their primacy from outside. Something they never expected. Never prepared for.'

_An unidentified vessel moves towards the planet, and pieces of debris enter its atmosphere._

'A deeply alien threat they called simply: "the Flood". An unstoppable force. An unquenchable thirst.'

_Machines, with three arms and a single eye, drift towards the impact crater from one of the pieces of debris, and, charge, firing beams of light at the tentacles spreading out of the crater though the rest of city._

It devoured everything it touched. At first, their technology, their courage seemed like it might prevail.

_More of the machines move in massive numbers to destroy the Flood, but the Flood's various forms spread too rapidly._

_'_But they waited too long to see the threat, to join the fight. The Flood had spread too far and too wide.'

_Flood forms begin to infect live humanoids. The Flood begins to form biomass in various areas of the civilization. The Flood eventually forms Pure Forms._

'It fed on intelligent life and in doing so, became ever more intelligent itself. The Flood was unique. It used their own strength against them.'

_The Flood takes over the entire planet. In a Library-like structure, the warriors study an infection form._

'They were...the Forerunners.'

_The Forerunners activate their battleships, launching them into orbit_.

'The Forerunners were a wise, highly intelligent, noble people. And with a belief in justice, in peace, they bravely faced the adversary. They sought to sterilize it.'

_The Forerunner fleet musters its strength against the Flood-infected ships. On the surface, larger, more powerful fleet of the machines, known as "Sentinels", activates._

'I can only guess some of this. Fill in the gaps.'

_The Sentinels use their advanced weaponry to destroy Flood biomass. The ships in orbit use their collective beam weaponry to destroy the Flood-captured ships. The scene returns to the surface, where Forerunner infantry units move to engage the Flood on foot. Using advanced hand-held beam weapons, the soldiers destroy several buildings before being assailed by infection forms and Flood biomass. At first, the Forerunners cope, but in the end, they are overwhelmed._

'But it was an impossible fight. Realizing defeat was inevitable, the Forerunners made a decision to destroy everything.'

_The Flood forms biomass on everything, slowly building up and slowly reaches critical mass. The Flood eventually form a Gravemind._

'Ironically, they did this to preserve life. To create a future for you, yet unborn, knowing they themselves would not survive.'

_Flood controlled Forerunner ships lift off, enabling their spread through the galaxy._

'In a desperate attempt to ensure that they were the last victims, they built a secret weapon of terrible power.'

_The scene shifts to outside the infected galaxy, to the Forerunner's farthest outpost: the Ark. Around the Ark, the Forerunner's build their final weapons, the seven Halo rings, which are shifted into position through the Ark Portal._

'It was called 'Halo'. An array of weapons scattered throughout the galaxy. Its effect would spread throughout known space. Destroying the Flood. And every thinking creature in the galaxy. Little did they know, that they were not the first to activate a galactic super-weapon. Long before they waged war on the Flood or even your predecessors, the Hamanune, a single man made a decision that made him the last of the civilisation they knew only as "The Precursors". A decision made on one terrible, fateful day. A decision made by a man with many names, a man who was always running. A man who brought both hope and conflict wherever he went. The last of the Time Lords. A man called "The Doctor".

So, what did ya think of my little prologue? I know it's short but I'm in the middle of Year 11, so I'm doing my GCSE's, and I need to revise as much as possible. BUT, a few reviews might help free up some time for writing an update, so go ahead and click that little button in the corner. You know you want to...


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